1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to napkin dispensers.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Napkin dispensers have been commonly used in restaurants and other locations for dispensing disposable paper napkins. While napkin dispensers may appear uncomplicated at first glance, a number of problems have been associated with their use. In the past, napkin dispensers have been known to jam, i.e., napkins within the dispenser could not be removed without either disassembly of the dispenser or forcing the jam loose, which resulted in the destruction of at least several napkins. Jamming often occurred due to overloading of the dispenser or from using a wrong napkin size in the dispenser.
Prior napkin dispensers have also been known to tear and shred napkins as they are removed from the dispensers. Shredding of napkins was often due to the force required to be exerted on the napkins to overcome gripping forces holding the napkin in the containers. Shredding also occurred when napkins were withdrawn from the side of a dispensing opening in the dispenser rather than withdrawing the napkin directly from the front of the dispensing opening. Users, such as customers in fast food restaurants, typically did not take time to exert the direct forward pull required to prevent shredding by most dispensers. Another common problem was removing the precise number of napkins desired. All too often the user withdrew far more napkins than desired, for example because a number of the napkins stuck or were jammed together and came as a group from the dispenser. These problems lead to waste of napkins. Restaurant and service personnel were forced to spend unnecessary time cleaning up torn, unwanted and excess napkins about dispensers.